Heart surgery team gets help

 By MIRIAM MALAWA

THE Operation Open Heart team last Thursday received donations from the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) and Bank South Pacific (BSP) to help it in its work.

The team, comprising Australian doctors, nurses and health specialists, are in Port Moresby every year to perform life-saving heart surgery on selected patients. 

They were donated with a heart and lung machine valued at K375,000 by the NFA and a K100,000 by BSP.  The donation is to support the team in carrying out its work.

NFA managing director Sylvester Pokajam said the machine should help the OOH team carry out surgery. 

He said it provided the opportunity for Papua New Guineans to undergo heart operations here rather than travelling overseas. 

BSP company secretary Mary Johns told Port Moresby General Hospital staff and OOH team that it was a pleasure to help a team that had done so much for PNG.

She said the bank believed that the children and young people were the future and as such it must contribute and help provide health, hope and opportunity for them.

The doctors and nurses have managed to pass on invaluable knowledge to their PNG counterparts.